
SKETCH 



OF 



Captain James Fornance, 



13TH Infantry, U. S. A. 



KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF SAN JUAN HILL. 




Application of His Daughter, 
lONE B. FORNANCE, 

FOR A PENSION. 



SKETCH 



OF 



Captain James Fornance, 

13TH Infantry, U. S. A. 
KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF SAN JUAN HILL. 



Application of His Daughter, 
lONE B. FORNANCE, 

FOR A PENSION. 



p. 

Author. 
■ Person). 



Eli5 

1 J^ 



57th Congress. yj ^ t H Q Q Zl 

1st Session, ll. IV. iKJQOO* 



A BILL 

To continue the pension of lone B. Fornance, daughter of 
James Fornance, late captain in the Thirteenth Infantry, 
United States Army. 

Be if enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of Amcriea in Congress assembled, That 
the Secretary of the Interior be, and hereby is, authorized and 
directed to continue on the pension roll the name of lone B. 
Fornance, daughter of James Fornance, late captain in the 
Thirteenth Infantry, TJnited States Army, and to continue to 
pay her^ through her legally constituted guardian during her 
minority, until February eleventh, nineteen hundred and seven, 
a pension at the. rate of twenty-two dollars per month. 

By Mr. Wanger. 



February 4, 1902. — Referred to the Committee on Pensions and ordered to 
be printed. 



A Statement . 
Advocating this Meritorious Bill. 



The object of this bill is to support and educate a child, 
the only surviving member of the family of a soldier killed in 
the Battle of San Juan Hill. 

James Fornance, falher of lone B. Fornance, v^as ap- 
pointed from Pennsylvania to West Point and graduated there 
June, 1871. He was then appointed lieutenant in 13th In- 
fantry, U. S. A., and remained in active service with that regi- 
ment continuously until his death in July, 1898, being then 
Captain of Co. F. 

His earliest services were on the frontier at difTerent mili- 
tary posts throughout the West, notably at Red Cloud Agency 
in 1873. He was witli his command in Louisiana during the 
recfMistruction period from 1874 to 1879. During the railroad 
riots of 1877 he served with his command in Kentucky and 
Pennsvlvania, returning afterwards wath it to Louisiana. He 
was afterwards stationed at Fort Wingate, and at Sante Fe, 
New Mexico, where this daughter. lone B. Fornance, was 
born on February 12, 1886. He was instructor at the U. S. 
Military Academy at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for several 
years until 1894. In 1894 he served with his company in the 
Chicago riots. From 1894 to 1898 he was Senior Captain of 
the battalion of infantry at Fort Columbus. Governor's Island, 
N. Y. Harbor, and from that post he went with his command 
to the war. 

Just before the war began, he. being ill, had gone to a sani- 
tarium f(jr medical treatment, at the urgent request of the Sur- 
geon at Governor's Island. But at the threatened breaking 
out of hostilities, although not yet restored to health, he hur- 
ried back to his command at Governor's Island, went with it 



to Tampa, and thence to Santiago, where he was killed. When 
in camp at Tampa, and afterwards at Santiago, he was urged 
to take a staff appointment. But he considered it his duty to 
remain with his company. 

At the battle of San Juan Hill he led his company. 
Early in the battle he received a bullet wound through 
the leg, and was urged to retire to the rear. But, with 
the help of his sergeant, while under fire he bandaged the 
wound and continued in command of his company, and for a 
short time, as his superior officers were killed or disabled, he 
was in command of the battalion. Soon afterwards, when 
part way up the hill, he received another wound. A second 
bullet passed through him, entering at the abdomen and pass- 
ing out near the spine. He fell on the hill side mortally 
wounded. Three of his men stopped to care for him. But 
he, thinking every man was needed in the desperate attack, 
ordered them to rejoin the firing line. His command kept 
on advancing up the hill, and was among the first to enter the 
redoubt. He lay where he fell, was gathered in with the 
wounded after the battle, and was taken to the field hospital 
where he died. He was wrapped in a blanket and buried on 
the battlefield in a pit with nine other bodies. 

He had been married in 1876 at Baton Rouge, La., when 
stationed there. Three of his children, as they died, each was 
buried in the U. S. Military Cemetery at Baton Rouge, La. 
The body of one of them was brought there from Santa Fe. 
His wife died at Fort Columbus, Governor's Island, N. Y., in 
1894. Retook herbodvto Baton Rouge and buried her by their 
children. When the Government sent his body home from 
Cuba it was buried at Baton Rouge beside his wife and chil- 
dren. Flis only surviving child is lone, for whom this pension 
is asked. 

A pension was granted lone at the rate of $22 per month 
from July 4, i8g8, to February 11, 1902. (War with Spain. 
Pension Certificate No. 477,759.) It is now asked that that 
pension be continued until she is of age on February 12, 1907. 
Under the pension already granted she received but $946 
in the 43 months that the pension lasted. If it is continued 




five years longer she will receive $1320 more, making alto- 
o-ether $2266. But even in that case the entire amount of the 
pension and its continuance will not equal one year's pay of 
her father. 

It was hoped that the Government would grant to families 
of soldiers killed in the war with Spain an amount equal to one 
year's pay of the dead soldier. The Government has done this 
in other cases. In the case of the U. S. Steamer Oneida, sunk 
off Japan, Jan. 24, 1870, Congress by act of May 18, 1870 
(Statutes at'l.arge, 1870, page 123), gave to families of officers 
and men then drowned, twelve months' pay from the date of 
the loss of the vessel. 

That vessel the Oneida, having previously lost its boats in 
a storm, and not being permitted to replace them, was starting 
to cross the Pacific ocean when the disaster occurred. Being 
without boats, nearlv the entire crew was drowned. Doubt- 
less the failure of the Government to provide necessary boats 
for the vessel induced Congress in reparation to grant that ad- 
ditional year's pay to the families of those then lost. 

Had the 'Situation at San Juan Hill been more fully re- 
connoitered, much of the loss of life at that battle might have 
been prevented. Our troops were marched over a narrow- 
road through the impenetrable thicket and suddenly emerged on 
the San Juan River at the foot of San Juan Hill, unexpectedly 
exposed to the fire of Spanish artillery and hidden sharpshoot- 
ers. They were unsupported by artillery and without shelter 
from the enemy's fire. Crowding after them came other troops 
filling the narrow roadway to its uttermost. Loaded with 
blankets, provisions, etc.. they forded the river at a run under 
a galling fire. There was no alternative but to make the des- 
perate attack at once on the Spanish entrenchments upon the 
hill, or be all shot down. They made the attack successfully, 
but at fearful loss of life. 

Did the battle of San Juan Hill contribute any towards 
the victorious ending of the War with Spain? Did the 13th U. 
S. Infantry render service there worth acknowledgment? Were 
the services of Captain James Fornance worth considering? 
A small recompense for those services is asked for here. 



lone's pension has all been spent on her education. But, 
in her studies, siie is two years behind children of her age, and 
she should continue at school. If an extension of her pension 
cannot be granted, some other provision should be made for 
her during her minority. Her means are slender. She is 
without parent.s, brothers or sisters on whom to rely. 

Her father stood high in his profession. His thorough 
knowledge of its details was well known and appreciated m 
the army. His company was considered one of the model 
companies. 

Notwithstanding this dependent child, to whom he was 
fondly devoted, he did not hesitate to risk and sacrifice his life 
in the performance of his duty. 

If this child were a boy, the Government would certainly 
appo'nt him a cadet at West Point or Annapolis, or at least as 
a page in Congress. But as there is no such opportunity for 
a girl, some other repaiation is asked for her. 

Services of other members of lone's family might be men- 
tioned in her behalf. 

Her grandfather, Joseph Fornance, when a member of 
Congress in 1842, gave to the country one of its ablest soldiers 
by appointing Winfield Scott Hancock a cadet at West Point. 

Her uncle, John Fornance, graduated from the Poly- 
technic College, Philadelphia, as mechanical engineer in 1861, 
and immediately entered the U. S. Navy as engineer. He 
seri/ed th.rougii the entire civil war. He continued afterwards 
in the Navy and was drowned in 1870 in the sinking of the U. 
S. Steamer Or.cida, above mentioned. 

Her uncle, Major F. H. Edmunds, ist Infantry, U. S. A., 
served through the War with Spain and died of yellow fever 
at his post, Quemados, Cuba, June 18, 1900. 

JOSEPH FORNANCE, 
Guardian of lone B. Fornance. 
Norristowii, Pa., 
February 28, 1902. 



LIBRARY OP CONUREbS 



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